Luas planners are getting it badly wrong
WHAT was once a marvellous way to start the day going to work in the city of Dublin has now become a nightmare.
Thousands of workers trying to board the Luas from Dundrum going to the city centre cannot board with the crowds already picked up and have to wait from one Luas to another to get on, leaving many late for work. It is now a matter of chance.
It has occurred to me and other workers that if half the carriages had their seats removed, four times the number of passengers could get on each train. It is such a short journey that standing, but getting to work in time, is better than sitting and being late.
But I suppose that is too simple an answer to the problem. Meanwhile, we listen to the ‘experts’ telling us to use public transport. REDMOND PATRIC
O’HANLON, Churchtown, Co. Dublin. ...I THINK the city planners have got it all wrong when it comes to the layout of the Luas cross city.
I believe it would work much better if it was contra-flow.
This would increase the safety aspect because car drivers would see the tram coming; at the moment it creeps up from behind and any lapse in concentration by the car driver or passengers and – smack! – the Luas is out of action for two hours.
I also believe the tram would be more efficient if it ran from north to south down O’Connell Street across the bridge and through Westmoreland Street.
The tram coming from the green would use the other track.
The advantage of doing this would be that bigger trams could be used – while also increasing safety. Name and address supplied.
Syrian tragedy
I HAVE recently been sent a copy a list of children killed in Syria since the conflicts there began in 2011.
This list has been compiled by the Centre for Documentation of Violations in Syria and I have no reason to doubt the numbers, except that they are actually likely to understate the total number of children killed.
The list includes the names of 6,588 girls and 13,581 boys killed. Some were killed by Syrian government forces and their local and international allies; others were killed by Syrian rebels and their local and international allies.
Instead or working towards ending this violence and creating peace in Syria, the so-called international community has been contributing in significant ways to this slaughter of the innocents.
Ireland is not doing nearly enough to help create peace in the Middle East, and is contributing to the violence and the killing of children by allowing US military use of Shannon Airport. The total of 20,169 dead Syrian children is 20,169 too many.
EDWARD HORGAN, Limerick.
Farewell, Gerry
TOMORROW, Gerry Adams will step down as president of Sinn Féin. I have lived through the horrors of the Troubles as I was born in Co. Down in 1963.
I was a long-time supporter of Sinn Féin and voted for them since I was a young adult. However, I am not a supporter any more and wouldn’t vote for them.
However, I would like to thank Gerry Adams for the most important thing he has achieved: peace Good luck, Mr Adams.
PAUL DORAN, Clondalkin, Dublin.
Population problems
BECAUSE of the two World Wars in the last century, millions of people, mostly men, had been killed.
One of the results of this was that steps were taken to increase the population of Europe. Unfortunately, Europe today is not reproducing enough and as a result there will be a fall in economic progress. A short-term solution was to let in migrants, but this in turn led to the growth of right-wing parties. Look at the conditions in Germany, Austria and Hungary, for example. So why do governments, including our own, encourage this, instead of taking positive steps to support parents, both those who work and those who stay at home?
GERALD MURPHY, Dublin 16.